Last Day of the Trip

Today was our final full day of the trip and we spent it checking out the facilities used for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. After a quick breakfast at the hotel we met our translator friend and walked to met the bus that would take us across town to the site. On the way she gave us tons of information regarding both the city of Athens and the Games that took place here seven years ago. You got a sense from her that the Games were something that the Athenians were very proud of hosting even though they were not the most successful Games of late. Our first stop on the site was the Olympic stadium which was built in 1993 with hopes of the Games one day returning to Athens but it wasn’t til nearly a decade later when they added on to it to make it suitable for hosting such a massive event. The stadium is used today primarily for soccer games and concerts and was in pretty good condition. Next we walked around the street to the basketball arena which is now home of the Greek national basketball team and the Greek professional team Panathinaikos. The arena was pretty cool but not in the best shape because of missing seats due to rowdy fans breaking them. After we walked around the Olympic park a little more but did not go in any more buildings. The rest of the park was in bad shape, with graffiti and uncut grass everywhere, but Professor Ryan said it looked better than last year so maybe they are making progress towards restoring the park. The bus then took us back to the hotel. Some people hung out on the roof for the afternoon playing cards while others went shopping. We all met up at four to have a ‘reflection hour’ about the trip and to talk about what we learned. At seven we walked over towards the base of the Acropolis for our last group dinner which was very enjoyable because of the great food and Robert’s entertainment. The trip is coming to an end but we all had an incredible time and will be back in the US tomorrow!

Final "Real" Day of the Trip

Today was our last real day of our Olympic Odyssey trip, as tomorrow we are traveling back to JFK arriving around 8:00 pm. We met at 8:15 am this morning, which meant I had to get up earlier than the past days we have spent in Greece. Everyone who ate breakfast at the hotel met Elsa, our tour guide/translator for the day. We took a bus ride to the site of the 2004 Summer Olympics that took place in Athens. On the way to the Olympic Stadium, Elsa told us some interesting facts about the 2004 Olympics, including how much tomato sauce the athletes ate. Once we got to the Olympic Stadium we met our other tour guide, who doesn't speak english so Elsa helped her and us out. We got to sit in the Olympic Stadium of 2004, which holds about 69,000 fans. Unfortunately the, what once was incredible, venue is not used to its best ability.

Concerts and some other events are currently held at the stadium including a Jon Bon Jovi concert this summer.

After visiting the Olympic Stadium, we walked over to the basketball stadium that sits about 18,000 fans. This stadium is put to good use, which includes a basketball game this Sunday between Olympiakos vs. Panithanakos. After visiting the two Olympic stadiums, a few students and I went to lunch with Professor Ryan at an awesome gyro restaurant. The food was great and the service was even better as we got an appetizer and a dessert on the house.

Tonight was our final meal and it was also a group dinner. We ate at another Greek restaurant, which was very good, but I am getting sick of Greek food. I have had an incredible time on this Olympic Odyssey trip, but after three weeks of traveling I am ready to go back home.

A Hot Day in Athens

Today we woke up and made our way over to the Acropolis in the morning to check out the site. It was an extremely sweaty and hot day so the hike up to the top of the Acropolis was a grueling trek and we got there at the same time as about a dozen cruise trip tours so it was really busy. Robert, our humorous British tour guide, showed us around the site and explained to us all the history and architecture of the buildings. The Parthenon is an impressive structure that is currently being restored using all the pieces of the original building that have been recovered. We walked back down the hill and checked out the ancient Athenian agora which was the main marketplace of the city. Everyone was sweaty and hungry so we split up for lunch and met back up at the new Acropolis Museum that is located at the bottom of the hill. Big Matt reeked havoc in the lobby bathroom when he accidentally spilled his bottle of baby powder. Robert showed us around the museum for about an hour and it was very interesting even though most of the Parthenon artifacts are located at the British Museum in London, which we visited earlier in the trip. After the museum we all headed back to the hotel to relax and cool down. We then made the long trip across the street to the Noodle Bar for a quick dinner. Some people are now headed to bed early so they can wake up at 3 AM for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

Pix from Prof Ryan

Olympia...

Kalimarmaro Stadium, Athens...

Prof Ryan

First day in Athens

Today was another travel day, but this morning we woke up early to go back to the Olympia site to run the 192 meter Stade where Alexander the Great competed. Chad, Drew, Jake, Brett, "Big" Matt, and "Little" Matt all ran. In a controversial finish, the winner was......."Big"MATT!!!! Due to an illegal start by all other contestants, Big Matt won the race in a one step finish and fell to his knees in VICTORY.

There will be an epic video added later by Professor Ryan of the true victor.

After the race, we had time to walk around Olympia before getting on the bus to Athens. Robert, our tour guide, showed us the rest of the "pre interesting" and "post interesting" monuments of Olympia like Phillip II, the father of Alexander the Great. We spent about a half hour in Olympia and then were off to Athens. The bus ride took about 5 hours with a stop in between for lunch. Everyone slept the whole ride this time, which made it much quieter and relaxing. In no time we were in Athens checking into our hotel. We relaxed for about 2 hours then went for a walk to get our bearings straight. We first walked to the Zappeion building built for the Zappa's Olympics in the late 1800s. Then we visited the Panathenaic Stadium built in 1896 for the first modern Olympics; which was reconstructed and marbled in 2004 and is now being used for the Special Olympics in 2011. We couldn't get any closer to the stadium than outside the gates but it looked amazing from what I could see. After getting pictures of that, we walked around the area and stopped to watch a tennis match between four younger looking Greek boys. They were impressive players and had us all clapping for them like it was the French Open. Everyone enjoyed watching their match but soon enough we got hungry and went in search of a restaurant. We had dinner at a nice Greek restaurant and topped it off with a scoop of Gelato afterwards. We walked around for a bit, shopped at a couple of the stores until it got late, and then went back to the hotel to call it a night. I'd have to say it was a good start to the last destination of our trip.

Olympia

So today, was our only complete day in Olympia and Drew's blog post "Olympia" summarizes all the historical archaeological goodies we saw today. But, I'm going to have to say, the best part of this day for me was having lunch/appetizing for dinner with Matt and Sam. Yes, Olympia has been great, because it's something we spoke about in class, and one of the sites I was most excited about. I wanted to see, the track and the museums, but after Robert (our tour guide, who is very knowledgeable on the subject) told us most of this was rebuilt and some artifacts in the museum were fake I was really disappointed. So just sitting down with Matt and Sam having one two three four or more drinks made my day. We sat at the "Tavern" for like 4 hours just people watching waiting for it to be 7pm, to go to the place right across the street to have dinner with everybody else and as Drew said "I personally enjoy how the Greeks eat because you can just keep ordering and ordering and the food will keep on coming. As it is whenever the entire group eats together there was a lot fun and a lot of laughter."

Travel Day From Hell

May 29th was a day that most of us were not looking forward to for a while. Today was known as the “travel day from hell”. The morning started off normally waking up and going to get breakfast in the hotel, which was pretty standard. Then we got onto a bus at 9:20 a.m. from the hotel in Switzerland and enjoyed a half hour bus ride to the Geneva airport for a flight that left at 1:00 p.m. to Munich. We got to the airport and checked our bags, which was a pain. Some people’s bags were a little bit too heavy and depending on who was checking you in this became a problem. My bag weighted in at 23 kg, which is 3 over what they allow, by the guy at the counter said he would let it slide. Someone else’s bag weighted in at 22 kg and the person behind the desk made them take out 2 kg worth of things to have the bag make weight.

Once all that was worked out we went though security and had some time to relax. This was a great time for me to finally finish a book that I have been reading for a while now. I wont go into detail about the book but I will just say Tucker Max wrote it and if you don’t know who that is then that is probably a good thing. Then we got on the plane and flew to Munich. Once in Munich we only had a half hour to switch planes good thing that gate that we needed was pretty much right next to the one that we came into. Then we got on the flight from Munich to Athens which was not too long nor was it too bad and I still didn’t understand why this was the travel day from hell yet. Then once we got into Athens I understood why. We had to take an over 4-hour bus ride from Athens to Olympia. We have been traveling all day the last thing I want to do is sit on a bus for over 4 hours. The ride was long but we finally made it to Olympia at 12:30 a.m. After this day I can understand why it is considered the travel day from hell and I am so happy we don’t have to do anything like that again because it sucked.

Friday in Lausanne

Going back a few days on this one.  On Friday, we joined up with SPM Professor Rick Burton to meet with WADA, the World Anti-Doping Agency.  Prof. Burton used to be Chief Marketing Officer of the USOC, so he is a great addition on our trip.  At WADA, we met with Laetitia Zumbrunnen, Manager of International Federation.  She gave us an overview of WADA, and their plans to have clean competition by protecting the athletes’ rights to participate in doping-free sport.  Hinging on their mission, their motto is “Play True: Say NO! To Doping”.  With a global budget of $25M, WADA faces an uphill battle to combat illegal doping in sport.  They also need to be a step ahead of drug-producing companies and dopers, so they can test for certain PED’s before they become an epidemic in sports.  Professor Burton told us in our meeting that the reason why baseball and softball were dropped from the Olympics was because they couldn’t cooperate with WADA’s drug testing policy on time.

           

            In the afternoon, everyone had free time and split up.  Some kids just relaxed by the water, a few went uptown with the professors to see the town, and others went to the Olympic Research Center.  Overall, the few days spent in Lausanne were unbelievable.  Our meetings with Olympic personnel, as well as the view of the Alps and much needed down time, were great to break up the constant sightseeing in London, Paris, and soon to be Greece.

Olympia

After breakfast at our hotel we went off to see the site of the Ancient Olympics. Our tour guide Robert was extremely knowledgeable about the site and was able to paint picture of what took place a few thousand years ago. After getting a tour of the site we went to a museum filled with artifacts from the Ancient Games which was pretty cool. We then had a little free time to explore the one street that makes up Modern Olympia before heading off to visit another museum with ancient Greek artifacts, of which there seems to be no shortage. Since it began to rain we went back to the hotel and decided that we were getting wet any way so we might as well take a dip in the pool and have some fun. Dinner of course was a highlight of the day, as we enjoyed some traditional Greek food. I personally enjoy how the Greeks eat because you can just keep ordering and ordering and the food will keep on coming. As it is whenever the entire group eats together there was a lot fun and a lot of laughter.

Lausanne's FREE DAY!!

How you doin 11 o'clock wake up.

Everyone got to sleep in today until whenever they pleased because we all had a free day in Lausanne. After getting a good night's sleep, a lot of us branched off and did our own thing. Higger and Alvaro went with Professor Ryan and Burton to Vevey and Montros, two small towns about 20 minutes outside of where we are staying. They said they had a good time walking around checking out the place and relaxing in the sun. Their day sounded like a success.

Another group of us got up around 11 and went out to breakfast at a delicious ice cream and waffle stand right by the edge of the water. I couldn't tell you how delightful my cinnamon and vanilla ice cream waffle was; easily the best breakfast I've had on this trip hands down. After the orgasmic waffles, the guys "little"Matt, Steve, Jake, Drew, Chad, and I played each other in a real life chess match.

A game was set up with humongous chess pieces for the public to play in the little square by the water. Matt and I won with minor help from the peanut gallery, Chad. Drew and Jake gave us a run for our money, well Chad's money that is because he bet on the outlook of the game. But no money was lost because the bet was placed on the best team, Matt and I. Hahaha no hard feelings boys.

After chess, our group met up with the rest of the guys right before they were about to go paddle boating. We tagged along and spent a few hours out on Lake Geneva just paddling and swimming in the crystal clear Swiss water. The water was so nice, a little cold but still refreshing. I didn't want to get out but our hour time slot was up so we headed back to land to enjoy the rest of our evening.

Sam, "big" Matt, Davis, Boepple and I spent a good hour and a half outside enjoying the sunlight before the Barcelona and Manchester United game. We plan to watch it all together at our favorite spot, The White Horse, a pub right beside our hotel. But that isn't until another hour. Right now we are just relaxing and catching up on our journals and homework. And Sam just shockingly mooned a wedding bus from our hotel window. These guys are hilarious and a good group of boys to travel with. I've been having the time of my life with them. I don't know what the night has in store for us, but I know our last night in Lausanne will be one to remember.

Bon soir tout le monde!
Tomorrow we'll be in Greece.

Prof Ryan Pix

IOC Offices...

Olympic Research Center...

...WADA and Federation Offices

Friday May 27, 2011

Today we went to WADA. We had an interesting meeting about what WADA does and how they operate. After WADA we headed back to hotel. After a brief meeting with the one and only professor Burton we headed out to lunch. We went back to the panini place for lunch. After lunch we headed across the street for some delicious waffles. Im sure Eric will eventually talk about how good it is. Next I headed over to the research center and checked out some past olympic city presentations. Next we headed back to the focaccia place for dinner. After dinner we headed over to the White Horse for happy hour, and well the rest is history.

The Olympic Museum in Lausanne

First Day in Lausanne

Our first full day in Lausanne was the reason for this trip throughout Europe.  We went to the IOC headquarters to talk with Timo Lumme, the Managing Director of IOC Television and Marketing Services (TMS).  However, Mr. Lumme was in a philatelic and numismatic Olympic meeting.  This meeting based around Olympic coins and stamps will lead to the IOC generating millions of dollars of revenue.  

Although our meeting with Mr. Lumme was unsuccessful, we did meet with three TMS employees, who worked in sales and marketing.  They gave us an hour long presentation, which was then opened up to some Q & A.  Sitting inside the "London 2012" room, they told us about their TOP Sponsors, the "Clean" ideal of Olympic venues (No advertising inside venues), and how to control ambush marketing.  It was extremely interesting learning from some of the best sports marketing minds in the industry.

Afterwards, we headed over to the Olympic Museum, which Matt described below.  Besides seeing amazing artifacts like Hitler's Berlon Olympics Signed letter in 1936 and the Olympic torches, I also found the Olympic medals to be beautiful.  Interestingly, the medals were all made with 0.6 grams of gold, besides the Barcelona medals.  Those were made with 0.9 grams, because the IOC president at the time of the games was from Spain.  Other interesting facts from the museum are that they have documents in their archives that stretch over a kilometer long, and that they are closing for 2 years at the end of this year to remodel and expand their building.

As the day winded down, and the Alps faded into the dark, we decided to end the night kicking around a soccer ball and swimming in Geneva Lake.  Although the kids who swam enjoyed their night, my replica soccer ball of the UEFA championship finals that I bought in London ended up being punted into a tree, where it still remains about 30 feet high.  Hopefully, we can get it down by the time we leave Lausanne.  

More to come from me tomorrow.

Chad Spodek

IOC Visit Day

Our first full day in Switzerland was awesome. After a nice breakfast at the hotel, we headed out on the bus towards the IOC headquarters. It was a beautiful building and it was really cool to see the inside of such an important building. Our trip was lead by a woman named Tatiana who works for the IOC Televsion and Marketing Services branch. She gave us a great tour of the building before we sat down in the "London 2010" conference room for a comprehensive meeting about Olympic Marketing. Befor leeaving, we got a couple souvenirs. We were thankful to have gotten so much time with them.

Here is a picture of the IOC building:

After leaving the IOC, we walked along the beach to the Olympic Park. Being along the water in Lausanne is absolutely beautiful. When we got back to our hotel, most of us got paninis at a place down the street and went back to the room to relax for an hour.

We then met up so that we could to the Olympic Museum and Olympic Studies Center. The museum itself was magnificent, especially from the various pieces of art and water fountains in front of the museum. We got a tour of the museum that went all the way from ancient games to previewing Rio 2016. There were many great artifacts, especially the Olympic Torches.

The final part of our day was going through the Olympics Study Center. I was impressed by the massive amount of literature readily available. We were lucky enough to see a letter from Hitler before the Berlin Games, and even though it was Hitler, it was amazing to see such a rare document.

We all split up for dinner. I was among a small group that went a place called White Horse for dinner. With WADA on the docket for tomorrow, there is another day in Switzerland to look forward to.

Wake up in Paris, spend the day in Switzerland

I knew waking up early would be a challenge today because of the 6:30 starting time but the late night we had last night was completely unexpected made that starting time so much more difficult to make, which some of us actually didn’t. We boarded the train half asleep and the next thing I knew, I was walking along the beautiful lake Geneva, which is surrounded by the towering Swiss Alps, to our hotel. There we did a roommate selection draft and apparently I was a lottery pick as Boepple took me with the second overall pick behind Higger, the obvious number one pick. Sam was disappointed that he couldn’t pick me but sometimes you got to trade up to get a playa like me. Brett then made a surprising choice in drafting Samost, which disappointed Jake and Steve who both had him high on their big board.

We took some time to settle in, which included a lakeside meal and exploring the area on this perfect day before spending a couple of hours at the Laundry place. On the way back to the hotel we ran into the town drunks who were mumbling jokes I couldn’t understand at all outside the market. Now I am just sitting here writing this journal and enjoying my view from the hotel room, which is what the photo is from. I am looking forward to the group meeting tonight and maybe a little bit of happy hour action after, but nothing too wild because of the important IOC meeting tomorrow.

Arch of Triumph and Eiffel Tower experience

Well we got off to an earlier start than we usually did today with an 8am wake up call. I was very tired because we saw Fast Five last night in english (with french subtitles) at 10pm, which was amazing! I haven't seen the first four, but I have to now. The movie took place in Rio which is known for its corrupt politics and police force. This pertains to the Olympics because the IOC should be concerned about bribery and fraud with Rio hosting the next summer Olympic games in 2016.

Then we went to the Arch of Triumph where there was a memorial for tomb of the unknown french soldier. The United States' is better in my opinion...

Then we went to the Eiffel Tower. I was fascinated by the 110 year old structure that was only meant to be a temporary building for the 1900 exposition. However the French people didn't want to tear it down.

Immediately when we arrived off a bunch of street vendors bombarded us with offers to buy mini Eiffel tower toys. A few of them asked me multiple times if I wanted to buy the small toys from them. I respectfully declined the first few times. But then they began to irritate me because I was just trying to enjoy the view of the real Eiffel Tower not the fake ones in their hands. After declining to buy something from this same guy for a third time, this one particular vendor had quite a rude comment to me all because I told him I wasn't going to buy anything from him.

After setting record time (approx. 18 min) seeing the Arch of Triumph and the Eiffel Tower we took the metro to the French Open where a few members of the gang watched some tennis for about 6 hours. One person even turned into a lobster with his sunburn. We walked all the way around the stadium and saw through some of the trees a few practice matches that were going on. A few of the taller members in the group were able to take some pictures over the 7 or 8 foot fence. (needless to say, I didn't take any pics...)

Off to Switzerland tomorrow. Not too excited about the 3.5 hour train at 7am. Hope to get some sleep tonight and tomorrow on the train.

US of Awesome showed up at the French Open

Tuesday was once again an early start that began with a quick tour of the famous Triumph Arch and the Eiffel Tower. We all seemed very tired and cold at the arch but by the time we made it to the Eiffel Tower people seemed to have woken up a bit and jokes were being cracked as usual including a Professor Ryan classic. Salesperson: “5 key chains for one euro,” P Ryan: “O yeah I’m very interested… NOT!” After a little wondering around and some pictures we took the metro to the area where Rolland Gardens is, which is the stadium that hosts the French Open each year. Eric, Jake, Stephanie, and I all managed to get our hands on some tickets for a day of first round matchups. I’m not sure what the rest of the group did, (they may wondered around for a while doing nothing), but us four had a full seven hour day at the event.

I had a great time and I believe the other three did as well. Highlights of the day included watching an American, Sam Quarry, defeat a German which is always fun. Other matchups I saw were victories from the fourth and fifth ranked players in the world Andy Murray and Robin Soderling. Americans performed extremely well today as underdogs such as Harrison and Isner almost made huge upsets when they were supposed to be blown out. We also saw some hot French girl throw away her lead in the end to a Japanese player; we were all very disappointed by that result. I may go to the Tower again tonight to see it all lit up but think I am going to take it easy tonight because of the early morning tomorrow. Anyway, besides the pricy food and the sunburns that we all got, it was a great day overall. The picture is from the French Open just to get a feel of the type of courts we went around to, it is one of the many outdoor courts.

5/24 Prof Ryan Pix

Arch & Tower...

 French Open...great seats !?

First day in Paris

We woke up to a beautiful morning for our first full day in Paris. We had breakfast as a group in the hotel and it was really nice that we didn’t have to pay for breakfast like we had to every day in London. After breakfast we got onto the train and went to a bakery that we saw the day before that looked really good and we wanted to try. It was right in Saint Michel Square where we were walking around the night before. After we got our bakery fix we started walking to where the first modern Olympics were planned. Pierre de Coubertin invited all of the leaders from around the world to come to Paris to talk about how to universalize sports because around this time was when sport was starting to become very popular throughout the world but each country had their own rules. People in the United States were not playing sports by the same rules that the Germans or the French were and Pierre de Coubertin wanted to change that and also wanted to start the Olympics. All of the leaders met at Sorbnne at the University of Paris develop what we recognize as the modern day Olympics.

From there we walked to a park, which in the middle sat the Queen’s summerhouse at Luxembourg. This building was so amazing it was so vast and it was surrounded by a huge garden and a park where there were people sitting outside and enjoying the weather. From there we walked past the apartments where F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote the Great Gatsby. It was really cool to see because I don’t like many books but that was one that I did really enjoy.

From there we walked to the Saint Sulpice church that was in the Da Vinci Code. The design of it was so nice and there were sculptures all over the building and it was full of stained glass. Then we went over to the Louvre. I always just thought that the Louvre was the little triangle and that was it but I was quite mistaken. It was huge and there was so much to see. The Mona Lisa was very disappointing because it is very small and I personally don’t understand what makes it better then other pieces of artwork that are there. I feel like the statures and the sculptures that are there are more impressive then any of the painting. From there the group broke up and some people went one direction in the Louvre and one went the other way. The group I was with was there for a good two hours until we were all done looking at art. Then the group I was with just started walking and we ended up near the Arc De Triomphe. From there we got on a train and headed back to our hotel where I am now currently sitting her writing this. We will go out to dinner later and see where the night takes us.

Monday 5/23 Prof Ryan

A few new photos...

British Museum...  Olympic Park... and Hackney PResentation

 

 ...with Paul Deighton, CEO LOCOG, London 2012

SPM at Tower Bridge...

Paris,

Welcome to Paris

We got an early start today to leave London and head off to Paris. The train ride was comfortable and not too long, especially compared to our first flight. After the train we took the metro to our hotel. My room and a couple others have an amazing view of the inside of a mall. Once we got settled we went off to explore Paris and find something to eat, so naturally we found ourselves at a deli in the Jewish Quarter. At the end of the meal we got a dessert for Prof. Ryan, since today is his birthday. After enjoying a nice walk that included seeing Notre Dame the group split up. A few of us went off and got some crepes. Just across the street was probably the highlight of my day, the greatest street performer I have seen. After starting off by standing up matches he went on to light 5 cigarettes at once in his mouth. Next he went on to swallow multiple razor blades, which he followed with his lit cigarettes, and topped it all off with one match for each of the cigarettes. It has definitely been an interesting start to our time in Paris and I am looking forward to tomorrow.

Final Day in London

Today was our last day in London. In the morning half of the group work up a little bit early, to go to Portabello Market. The market was a great experience, as it was approximately, a 2 mile stretch, featuring a delicious array of fresh fruits and pastries. The students took advantage of the great food, and got crepes, churros, and a loaf of cabatta bread. After the market, the entire group med up at Westminster Abbey. Although we didn't venture inside the church, it was clear, that this was the home of many years, of British history. It was the site of the recent wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton. After seeing the outside of the church, the group walked over to Buckingham Palace. At the palace, we saw several helicopters land behind the large building, and some people believed that it was the queen coming back from Ireland. After Buckingham Palace, we walked over to Hyde Park to see the UEFA Champions League festival. At the festival, we walked into a few stores, and got merchandise from the upcoming Champions League game. During our time in Hyde Park, we kicked around a soccer ball with the locals, and learned how to play cricket. Overall, our time in London has been great. We look forward to the rest of the trip in France, Greece, and Switzerland. Cheers!

day 4: LOCOG and Tower of London

Today we met up with the Ithaca group of students and Professor Burton at LOCOG where we spoke with Chief Executive Paul Deighton. He spoke about how he plans to make London the first Green Games and use recycled or reusable infrastructure for future usage. He is also taking security very seriously with checkpoints for all visitors, athletes, volunteers, and contractors to pass through. He believes that if London can control what comes into the city, then they can minimize the chances of a potential terrorist attack. One of his other main goals for the 2012 Summer Games was to make sure people felt like they had a part in the games. For instance, the Olympic torch will be within 1 hour of every Londoner during the relay leading up to the opening ceremony. He also plans to use a vast amount of volunteers to make sure LOCOG knows how to operate the infrastructure that they've built. Mr. Deighton had one important piece of advice for Brazil (who host the next summer games in 2016) and he stated that they need to get started and not wait until the final year like Athens to construct their infrastructure and other buildings.

This afternoon we took a tour of the really old Tower of London. Inside there were a ton of young school kids who were on a field trip. They had on display the crown jewels of former London's Kings and Queens. They also had plated body armor and antique weapons from back in the mid 19th century and earlier. I'm looking forward to seeing Westminster Abbey tomorrow.

Day 4 5/20

Today, our 4th day of the 2011 Olympic Odyssey trip, was an exciting day that incorporated an educational component combined with a bit of fun time and excitement. Our day started off with an informal meeting with Paul Deighton, the CEO of LOCOG. It was an early morning as we had to meet at 9:00 am, and I ate my bagel with cream cheese from the same breakfast place, Deli'z Cafe, as I have had every day so far in London. We were a little late to meet with Mr. Deighton as the tube underground delayed us, but once we got to Mr. Deighton's building we met up with the sport management students from Ithaca College who also are traveling to London. The meeting with Mr. Deighton was very successful as we learned many things about the Olympics, which included that politics is and was a big component of the Olympic Games. After talking with Mr. Deighton we stopped for a quick lunch, which began our long adventure to the touristy locations of London. We walked through multiple museums, saw the Tower Bridge, walked to the Eye of London, and saw Big Ben. Today was an awesome, and very tiring day that included a lot of walking, learning, and sightseeing, which is an aspect of the trip that I was looking forward to.

day 3 recap

A picture of the Countdown clock in the center of a plaza

Today was my favorite day of the trip so far. After breakfast, we went to the British Museum. At the museum, we walked around through the Ancient Greek section and some of us even went to the Mummy exhibit.

After the museum, a group of us went to lunch at the Forum Cafe for lunch. We then took the Tube down to the Olympic Village in West Ham. We took a tour with Mark, the local tour guide, who gave us a comprehensive walking experience of the site.

When the tour was over, we took the Tube again, this time towards the town of Hackney. After Ryan bought us all popsicles, we made our way over to a building in Hackney, where we met with Charlie Foreman, the CEO of the London Games for the Hackney Borough. Charlie was really kind and informative (and the ginger molasses cake was delicious).

After our meeting with Charlie, we took the bus to dinner. It was a longer bus ride, but we got to sit in the front of the upper level, which was really cool.

Dinner was the best part of the day for most of us. It was our big group dinner at the Sports Cafe. It was an American restaurant and there was even a bathroom attendant.

We then went to the largest sports store I have ever been in, Lillywhites; here, I and many others bought a lot of soccer memorabilia. Exhausted from a long day, we all called it early and everyone is looking forward to our LOCOG meeting tomorrow.

Thursday Blog Post

Today was our third day in London. We had another event filled day. First, after another delicious breakfast at deliz cafe. Following that we walked to the British Museum and checked out the parthenon exhibit. It was really cool seeing those ancient pieces of greek history. After the museum, we grabbed lunch at a nearby cafe and headed back to the flats. We met back up with Professor Ryan and went to the olympic park for a guided tour of the area. Our tour guide Mark was very knowledgeable about the area, buildings and history. He showed us everything from the olympic stadium to the international media center. The buildings were almost finished and the olympic village looks awesome. After the tour we headed over to the borough of Hackney and met with Charlie Forman, Chief Officer of the area. He gave us an overview of the towns plan for the games and beyond. Most of us were exhausted after all the walking, and we headed over to Picadilly Circus for dinner. We went to the Sports Cafe, it was a breath of fresh air to be able to watch American sports and sportscenter. The food was great and we had a lot of it and Professor Ryan was even kind enough to pick up the tab. Following the meal we walked around the area, which is London's version of Times Square. That trip was the end of an eventful and exciting day.

WEDNESDAY PROF RYAN

Hi this is Prof Ryan

Well…we all made it to London safe and after a bit of sleep te began our Odyssey.  Yesterday (Wednesday) we spent some time at Wembley Stadium home to British Football (no not that Football).  And the afternoon the students enthusiastically sat through my presentation at the Conference on Law, Policy and the Olympic Movement…then off for some free time in the evening.  …Today the British Museum, a tour of the O2012 Olympic Park and a meeting the Borough of Hackney (location of the 2012 games)…more to come…

JFK on time to London (via Frankfurt)

Wembley Park...

Look for the Duck..!

First Day in London.

First blog and I don’t know what to write about. We are supposed to write a play by play of what we did today, but for that you can read Eric’s blog post below. But for things besides the trip, we have all enjoyed London, we have only been here for a complete day but everybody has loved the daily life of the Brits. Things we’ve noticed is that, it’s very noticeable we are tourists. Everybody here dresses up very nice, suits and ties, and in one case using an umbrella as a cane. We’ve also noticed we are really loud compared to the Brits, because as soon as we get into the “tube” everybody just stares at us and everybody is quiet. I know it’s a short post, but my previous writing professors will agree with me, I am not the best writer there is.

Wembley Stadium

Today, during our first full day of Olympic Odyssey 2011, we visited the world famous, Wembley Stadium. To start the day, we ate breakfast at a delicious cafe with Professor Ryan. After breakfast we took our first trip on the tube to Wembley Park. Upon arrival Professor Pat Ryan and Stephanie Speranza defeated myself and Drew Altavilla in an intense game game of foosball. After foosball, we went on a tour of the stadium, visiting the press conference room, visitors locker room, and royal suite among many other areas. During the tour we witnessed the preparations going on for the UEFA Champions League final, also known "The Superbowl of Soccer." The game takes place on Saturday, May 28th between FC Barcelona and Manchester United. During the tour we were shown a video, explaining the history of the stadium. The newest version was built in 2007 on top of the former stadium that was built in 1923. It is the 2nd largest stadium in Europe, and can hold approximately 90,000 people. After the tour of Wembley stadium, the group took the tube to Ithaca College in London, to attend a conference on Law, Policy, and the Olympic Movement, where Professor Pat Ryan gave a stellar presentation on the "Side Show Olympics". Some of the other speeches included presentations on "Comparative analysis between sports regulations and Italian Criminal Law at the 2006 Olympics" and "Reflection on Rule 42 of the Olympic Charter." Overall, the presentations were very interesting and informative. It has been a great start to Olympic Odyssey 2011!

Olympic Odyssey

Practice blog...

Olympic Odyssey

Practice Blog

Short Blog Post

It works.

Summer can't come fast enough!!

Hey everyone,

Finals are almost over and all that's on my mind is Olympic Odyssey. I can't wait to officially meet everyone in the group and travel Europe with each other. It is going to be so much fun :p

I have never been to London before and that is our first stop. I want to run into those guards that stand there like a statue and are told to never move. Whoever wants to stand next to them for hours and try get them to talk can come with me hahahaha. I'm determined to break them and make them smile!!

This trip is going to be so much fun, I'm really into sports and the Olympics and can't wait to learn about all the historical landmarks we are going to see. I'm debating on bringing a football to just go outside in a park and throw sometime, but maybe a  baseball because I wont have room in my bag to fit a football. So if any of you boys have room in your bags, bring some type of frisbee or football. I love to play sports! :)

Well I know this trip is going to be a blast, so lets speed up these clocks to the 16th!
Olympic Odyssey needs to come now!!

practice blog

Olympic Odyssey

Practice blog

Olympic Odyssey

Practice blog.